Nov. 30, 2018
At our scheduled session with the federal mediator on Wednesday, Nov. 28, the Geneva School District 304 Board of Education presented a comprehensive settlement package proposal to the Geneva Education Association (GEA) for their review and consideration.
This proposal addresses all stated priorities and parameters articulated by the teachers’ union. Our proposal also fulfills the Board’s continuing objective to provide a competitive starting salary that will allow us to attract and retain high-quality educators. All of the salary increases in our proposal would be paid retroactively to the start of the 2018-19 school year.
The Board’s comprehensive settlement proposal includes a lane-and-step salary schedule that provides more than $5.3 million, or a 17% increase, in new money for teacher compensation over the life of the proposed four-year contract. Other key components of the proposal include:
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Step movement: Annual individual salary increases for each full-time teacher are as follows during the length of the contract:
- 2018-19: 3.2-6.1% ($2,467-$3,136)
- 2019-20: 3.1-5.5% ($2,354-$3,092)
- 2020-21: 3.1-5.4% ($2,377-$3,099)
- 2021-22: 2.7-4.6% ($2,131-$2,756)
- Lane movement: Additional compensation will be paid to teachers in recognition of educational attainment.
- The lane movement governor will no longer be in effect.
- A 17.7% increase in starting salaries over the four-year life of the contract, from the current $40,589 to $42,589 for the 2018-19 school year and increasing to $47,789 in the fourth and final year of the contract (2021-22).
- No changes or increases in teacher contributions for health, medical, dental and life insurance, despite anticipated rising costs of these benefits.
- No changes to the District’s retirement incentive program other than reducing the cap on end-of-career salary increases from 6% to 3% to minimize penalties recently imposed by the Illinois legislature for retirement incentives beyond those allowed by the state system.
The Board strongly values and respects our teachers. We believe this proposal compensates them fairly and competitively for their work, while operating within the financial means of the District and advancing the best interests of all District 304 stakeholders, including our students, parents and community.
As we await the GEA’s response to the Board’s new proposal, please continue to show your support of District 304 schools and students by continuing to call upon both the Board and the GEA to keep talking and to work in good faith to achieve a contract agreement without disruption to our schools, students and families.
Sincerely,
Geneva CUSD 304 Board of Education